Pages

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

I'm Not Sure I Can Ever Swing This Performer Thing

MJ Rose who runs the blog Buzz, Balls, & Hype, has some thoughts on the difficulties of promoting a book. She points out that book tours are a crapshoot at best. Who knows if 5 people will show up to hear an author or 50? So publishers now expect authors to turn into solo performers and entertainers to sell books. MJ isn't sure that most writers are up to this:

“Why demand that authors be something they are not. We're not asking our best singers to write novels, not asking our thespians to craft commanding stories.

I think blogs/vlogs/podcasts are the best thing that has happened for authors. We can write - or perform if you will - in the way that we feel comfortable and the way we excel.

Now if we can just harness the power of the net in a more functional way. No, Virginia, Publishing is not broken, but the navagation system is. We still can't get enough new titles in front of enough new readers in an economial and motivating way.”